Rajeev, I have been reading youe articles for the last couple of years and I feel that all you attempt to do is sensationalize non-issues for personal benefit.
I find it disgusting that a person such as you who has studied in at Stanford in the US and who continues to work there makes these statements. I would suggest that arm-chair guardians of the Hindu faith actually do something for India first and then go about blowing their own horns.
Indeed, NRIs such as you and your creed are so detached from the ground realities and issues that drive India and Hinduism today that all your rants sound comic to on-the-ground activists.
Not to sound caste-ist, but it is common knowledge in India today that Tamil Brahmins "Tam Brahms" as they are referred to are the one group that is most obsessed with emigrating to the US. I often wonder what hardships India has imposed on this group that they are so eager to flee the motherland to the shores of the good ol' USA.
You, my friend Rajeev belong oh so pefectly to this group. People such as you have orgasms when they receive their F1 visa....Oh the sweet stamp of freedom...freedom for the Tam Brahm. Hypocrites you and all your ilk.
RE:Rajeev Srinivasan get off your high horse
by Thobey Srinivasan on Feb 13, 2006 04:26 PM Permalink
Probably you are not aware that as recently as 1989 during VP singh's time and when Karunanidhi was the CM,the volunteers of Dravidar Kazhagam an outfit floated by the late EV Ramsamy Naicker raided a Veda Patasaala in the temple city Kumbakonam without any provocation. IT may be soothing to your liberal and secular mind that the tufts of Brahmin students and vedic scholars were cut off and priceless ancient Sanskrit manuscripts were burnt down?
The Reservation policy, revised several times by successive Governments, has touched 67% mark in Tamil Nadu and Brahmins have been already kept out of Government jobs and professional colleges.
You make life miserable for them for the historic wrongs allegedly committed by that community, but accuse them of being unpatriotic because they leave India for USA.
Mr Kingkong, we admit you have all the attributes of a typical Indian, English educated intellectual. The very tone and terminology you use abundantly tell us who you are. But aquaint yourself with some facts and figures before casting aspersions on Tamil or any Brahmins. You need to catch up with a lot of reading, I suppose.
RE:Rajeev Srinivasan get off your high horse
by Thobey Srinivasan on Feb 13, 2006 04:11 PM Permalink
Dear Mr. Kingkong,
Here are some hardships inflicted on Brahmins:
They were labelled as Arayan invaders from central asia who did not belong here. They were aliens who had nothing in common with the ancient culture of this land. The Aryan-Dravidian myth has been exploded and decisively proved wrong by impartial historians who were not RSS trained but Westernenrs known for their erudition and intensive research. Leader after leader starting from the late EV Ramasamy Naicker (who is hailed as the elderly statesman of the Tamils- 'Periyar')the father of this 'Hate-Brahmin' campaign used to exhort the masses with their revanchistic ideology. Do you know the two popular graffitis during the peak of the anti-Brahmin movement of the early 50s:
"If you see a snake and a Brahmin, spare the former and kill the latter!" " Declare Brahimin ladies a public property for enjoyment"
Do you know that Brahmin settlements referred to as agrahaarams were targetted by these self-styled custodians of 'Tamil' culture who perpetrated unspeakable horrors on this unguarded sections? More to follow....
RE:Rajeev Srinivasan get off your high horse
by Ravi on Feb 12, 2006 12:20 PM Permalink
King Kong, At least have the courage to put down your real name.
You are right - 'Tam Brams' are one of the highest US-emigrating communities. You asked, what difficulties they face in India that they have to leave India.
You obviously are not a "Tam Bram" , or at least not an aspiring student - who wishes to get into a college in Tamil Nadu. Everyone knows that the political and education system in Tamilnadu is so biased agaisn BRahmins that a common Brahmin boy cannot hope for a decent higher education. Cumulative reservation is in 90s. hard working Tam Brams are being discriminated against inspite of very high percentages. Since they lack a political messiah, all they can do is leave TN and try to make a future elsewhere. TN's loss. And anyways, what's so wrong with pursuing opportunities, happiness, wealth, fair return for your hard work? You obviosuly don't know - because you are probably a 'reservation' candidate who got 47% in 12th, but still managed to get a quota job, sitting in a Nationalized Bank, spending 7 hour work-days drinking coffee, smoking and surfing Rediff on the office PC writing this stupid response.
Usually i do not subscribe to the views of this author; but this is amazing. Can things really be that bad that children(even if they are few) are renouncing hinduism? Its mostly the problem of the indian-hindu mone-making greed which enables them to swallow insults when lured by money.
I read an interview (either in India West or India Abroad) of the attorney who defended the case on behalf of the Hindu parents and of Prof. Witzel. As you probably know Witzel is a "Sanskrit" scholar who spoke out against the changes and levied ad-hominum attacks on the Hindu parents and organizations that were requesting the gross errors in the textbooks to be corrected.
Unfortunately, I do not remember the name of the attorney or the dates of the interviews. May be one of your readers will provide this information.
Anyway, here is my take on the two interviews.
The attorney got asked all kinds of tough questions (I thought she answered them admirably) whereas Witzel was let off easily, given leading questions so he could espouse his ad hominum attacks again and never asked to explain why he did not think blatant errors such as Ramayana coming after Mahabharata and Aryan invasion theory should be corrected.
I don't know the political leanings of these newspapers if these interviews are any indication, you can include them in your "usual suspects."
While I agree with most of what you say in your article, I take exception to you ascribing blame for the attack on Hinduism on "hostile Indian-origin Marxists in America." There are Indian Marxists as well who attack Hinduism. One example is Romila Thapar. She is considered a great history scholar. Having read her treatment of Ashoka (the Great Mauryan Emperor) convinced me that not only she is not objective but downright hostile to Hinduism and India.
I would also include in the "usual suspects," some Americans of non-Indian origin - specifically this Sanskrit professor from Harvard - I forget his name.
Generally I have found this to be true: If you want to flourish in the West as an author (of fiction or non-fiction), targetting Hinduism is your best bet. I include Salman Rushdie, V. S. Naipal, A. Roy in this group -- all extremely popular in the West but the underlying message is Hinduism is bad.
Really speaking, there is no religion per se as a Hindu religion. Hinduism was, is and remains a way of life. Only way to know this way of life is to be born in a Hindu family. Westerners or Middle Easterners cannot understand this thought. They have a limited sphere of thought that the almighty can be believed in only one way. The schools of thought are thus totally mutually exclusive leading to fanatic beliefs or atheism if one chooses not to accept any. On the contrary there is nothing like this in Hinduism which insists on path of righteousness or Sanatana Dharma. Then for masses of various mental levels, one is free to choose any means as can make him realize what almighty is. This aspect is not understood by people of other religions and subsequently they branded hinduism as a religion.
It is true that the World knows very little about Hinduism and for this we Hindus are responsible to a great extent.
Once in Jeddah, my colleague( a Lebanese Christian) and myself were attending a Party hosted by a Saudi who enquired as to why "Hindus Worship Cows"
I explained to him saying that the Cow is considred as Mother Cow, as in ancient time, when the mother dies during the delivery of the baby, the baby survives on Cow's Milk. Hence the Cow is considered as baby's Second Mother. Thus the Cow is reverred and Hindus are against slughter of Cows.
He and my Lebanese colleague appreciated the finer philosophy of Hinduism and were convinced as to why Hindus do not take Beef.
After a few weeks, in another Party I observed that the Lebanese Guy was not eating Beef Items and to my query, his reply was that he was deeply impressed with Hindu philisophy of Mother Cow and he had given up taking Beef Items.
Therefore, every Hindu in a Foreign Country shd explain the salient aspects of Hinduism to the people with whom he interacts and to the people around him. Thus every Hindu shd be the Ambassador of Hinduism and he can enlighten the World about Hinduism
The spirit of tolerance amongst Hindus runs so deep in us that to an extent we have become spineless. Compared to this, inspite of their intolerance, the other major religions are able to get their views across most of the time just out of fear for that religion or just because the Western world knows only one religion.
Rajeev, If i have been observant, this article would go down the list even before any one has had time to read it..Have you considered publishing it in papers in other countries ? Rediff is biased. Can i do anything to help?
